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Proposed bill will work to protect online data

A recently proposed bill by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal called the Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2011 will aim to protect United States citizens from online breaches and make data companies responsible for securing data, according the New York Times.

The paper says the proposed bill is in response to the growing number of people experiencing data theft and it will require businesses with personal of over 10,000 customers to implement privacy and security programs for storing the information.

"The goal of the proposed law is essentially to hold accountable the companies and entities that store personal information and personal data and to deter data breaches," Blumenthal told the paper. "While looking at past data breaches, I've been struck with how many are preventable."

With all of the data theft that goes, ZDNet questions if data protection and user privacy be taught in schools.

The website says data theft is of of the most common kinds of cyber crime and people can spend years rebuilding their lives after they have their identities stolen.

Many teenagers partake in social networking such such as Facebook and Twitter, and on those sites they are submitting personal information. Because of this, the website says children and teenagers should be taught data protection right and rules to maintain their privacy for the future.